Number  8 


Price  25  cents 


m  REPRINT  AND  CIRCULAR  SERIES 

OF  THE 

NATIONAL  RESEARCH 
COUNCIL 


SCIENCE  AND  THE  INDUSTRIES 

By  John  J.  Carty 
Vice  President,  American  Telephone  and  Telegraph  Company 


v 


An  Address  delivered  under  the  Auspices  of  the  National  Research 
Council  at  Washington,  D.  C.,  February  6,  1920 


Announcement  Concerning  Publications 

of  the 

National  Research  Council 


The  Proceedings  of  the  National  Academy  of  Sciences 

has  been  designated  as  the  official  organ  of  the  National  Research 
Council  for  the  publication  of  accounts  of  research,  committee  and 
other  reports,  and  minutes. 

Subscription  rate  for  the  "Proceedings"  is  $5  per  year.  Business 
address:  Home  Secretary,  National  Academy  of  Sciences,  Smith- 
sonian Institution,  Washington,  D.  C. 

The  Bulletin  of  the  National  Research  Council 

presents  contributions  from  the  National  Research  Council,  other 
than  proceedings,  for  which  hitherto  no  appropriate  agencies  of 
publication  have  existed. 

The  "Bulletin"  is  published  at  irregular  intervals.  The  sub- 
scription price,  postpaid,  is  $5  per  volume  of  approximately  500 
pages.  Numbers  of  the  "Bulletin"  are  sold  separately  at  prices 
based  upon  the  cost  of  manufacture  (for  list  of  bulletins  see  third 
cover  page). 

The  Reprint  and  Circular  Series  of  the  National  Research 

Council 

renders  available  for  purchase,  at  prices  dependent  upon  the  cost 
of  manufacture,  papers  published  or  printed  by  or  for  the  National 
Research  Council  (for  list  of  reprints  and  circulars  see  third  cover 
page). 

ders  for  the  "Bulletin"  or  the  "Reprints  and  Circulars"  of  the 
National  Research  Council,  accompanied  by  remittance,  should  be 
addressed:  Publication  Office,  National  Research  Council,  1201 
Sixteenth  Street,  Washington,  D.  C. 


REPRINT  AND  CIRCULAR  SERIES 

OF  THE 

NATIONAL  RESEARCH  COUNCIL 

NUMBER  8 


SCIENCE  AND  THE  INDUSTRIES* 
BY  JOHN  J.  CARTY 

VICE-PRESIDENT,  AMERICAN  TELEPHONE  AND  TELEGRAPH  COMPANY 

Because  of  the  stupendous  upheaval  of  the  European  War  with 
its  startling  agencies  of  destruction — the  product  of  both  science 
and  the  industries — and  because  of  the  deplorable  unpreparedness 
of  our  own  country  to  defend  itself  against  attack,  there  began  a 
great  awakening  of  the  American  people.  The  awful  shock  of 
arms  aroused  them  to  the  vital  importance  of  the  products  of  science 
in  the  national  defense.  Their  minds  were  startled  by  warfare 
combining  the  scientific  dreams  of  Jules  Verne  with  the  horrors  of 
Armageddon.  They  witnessed  as  never  before  the  spectacle  of 
men  warring  with  each  other  upon  the  earth,  and  under  the  earth, 
and  in  the  air,  and  on  the  sea,  and  down  deep  in  the  waters  of  the 
ocean  itself.  Even  in  the  very  ether,  scientific  offensive  and  de- 
fensive measures  were  carried  out  in  the  effort  to  maintain  or 
destroy  communications. 

Although  peace  has  not  yet  come,  hostilities  have  ceased,  let 
us  hope  forever,  and  having  concluded  its  work  of  organizing 
science  for  the  war,  the  National  Research  Council  now  turns  to 
its  even  greater  purpose  of  encouraging  and  organizing  scientific 
research  in  America  for  the  advancement  of  scientific  knowledge, 
and  for  the  attainment  of  those  immeasurable  advantages  which 
will  accrue  from  the  practical  application  of  such  knowledge  to  the 
affairs  of  men. 

We  must  preach  and  we  must  prove  that,  great  as  were  the 
achievements  of  science  in  war,  they  can  be  made  incalculably 
greater  in  peace.  Scientific  research  has  proved  to  be  an  invaluable 

*  An  address  delivered  under  the  auspices  of  the  National  Research   Council  at 
Washington,  D.  C.,  February  6,  1920. 

I 


2  SCIENCE:  J.  J.  CARTY 

aid  to  military  operations  in  time  of  war.  It  must  now  be  estab- 
lished as  an  essential  part  of  every  industry  in  time  of  peace. 

To  carry  out  its  purpose,  the  Research  Council  has  sought 
the  aid  of  some  of  the  American  corporations  which  are  in  sympathy 
with  this  movement,  a  movement  which  it  is  hoped  will  result 
in  the  establishment  of  an  industrial  research  department  in  each 
industrial  concern  large  enough  to  support  one,  and  in  cooperative 
effort  among  the  smaller  concerns.  The  large  corporations  are 
being  asked  to  explain  the  nature  of  their  research  organizations, 
and  the  advantages  which  are  derived  from  them.  It  is  believed 
that  in  this  way  those  of  our  manufacturers  who  are  not  yet  in- 
formed will  become  interested  in  research  methods  and  organiza- 
tion and  results. 

The  importance  of  scientific  research  to  our  American  industries 
cannot  be  exaggerated,  and  while  much  has  already  been  accom- 
plished, the  investigations  conducted  by  the  Research  Council 
indicate  a  state  of  affairs  in  this  respect  far  from  being  reassuring 
from  the  standpoint  of  international  competition. 

Most  of  the  principal  nations  of  the  earth  have  research  councils 
or  their  equivalents,  and  an  International  Research  Council  has 
already  been  formed.  Enough  is  already  known  to  justify  me  in 
saying  that  unless  the  manufacturers  of  the  United  States  establish 
research  departments  as  integral  parts  of  their  own  internal 
organizations,  our  industries  are  bound  to  fall  behind  those  of  other 
countries. 

It  is  in  connection  with  this  program  of  the  National  Research 
Council  that  the  American  Telephone  and  Telegraph  Company, 
which  I  represent,  has  the  honor  to  make  an  exhibit  showing  some 
of  the  results  of  industrial  scientific  research.  Furthermore,  this 
lecture  is  the  first  of  a  series,  dealing  with  various  phases  of  scien- 
tific research,  which  will  continue  from  year  to  year  and  which,  it 
is  hoped,  will  frequently  be  accompanied  by  important  exhibits. 

The  Department  of  Development  and  Research,  which  is  under 
my  charge,  was  founded  about  forty  years  ago  to  utilize  the  services 
of  scientific  men  in  developing  the  telephone  art.  It  has  grown 
from  small  beginnings  with  but  a  few  workers,  to  a  great  institution 
employing  hundreds  of  scientists  and  engineers,  who  devote  them- 
selves exclusively  to  the  discovery  and  improvement  of  telephone 
materials,  and  methods,  and  apparatus.  It  is  largely  owing  to  the 
scientific  research  conducted  in  these  laboratories  that  the  telephone 


SCIENCE:  J.  J.  CARTY  3 

achievements  and  development  in  America  have  so  greatly  exceeded 
those  of  other  countries. 

The  original  personnel  of  these  laboratories  consisted  of  but 
two  men,  Alexander  Graham  Bell,  the  inventor  of  the  telephone, 
and  Thomas  A.  Watson,  his  associate,  who  constructed  under 
Bell's  direction  the  first  telephone,  and  who  heard  through  it  from 
the  lips  of  Bell  himself  the  first  words  transmitted  electrically. 

At  the  present  time  the  personnel,  which  includes  graduates  of  a 
hundred  American  colleges  and  universities,  consists  of  thirteen 
hundred  scientists  and  engineers  who  devote  their  time  exclusively 
to  research  and  development  in  the  telephone  art. 

On  the  table  before  you  is  one  of  the  first  products  of  these 
laboratories.  It  is  a  model  of  the  first  telephone  by  means  of  which 
Bell  was  able  to  communicate  with  Watson,  but  over  a  distance  not 
greater  than  across  this  room.  Starting  with  such  feeble  instru- 
ments, the  scientific  personnel  of  these  laboratories — the  successors 
of  Bell  and  Watson — by  persistent  study,  incessant  experimenta- 
tion and  the  expenditure  of  immense  sums  of  money,  have  created 
an  entire  new  art:  inventing,  developing  and  perfecting,  making 
improvements  great  and  small  in  telephone,  transmitter,  line, 
cable,  switchboard,  and  every  other  piece  of  apparatus  and  plant 
required  for  the  transmission  of  speech. 

As  a  result  of  this  unceasing  organized  effort  and  these  cumula- 
tive improvements  in  the  art,  Dr.  Bell  was  enabled  to  talk  once 
more  to  Mr.  Watson  through  this  original  historic  instrument, 
although  they  were  thousands  of  miles  apart,  the  one  at  San 
Francisco  and  the  other  at  New  York. 

These  two  original  telephones  have  increased  marvelously  in 
numbers  and  efficiency,  and  the  first  telephone  line  of  a  hundred 
feet  in  length  has  been  expanded  into  a  network  covering  the 
continent,  until  the  telephone  system  of  the  United  States  alone 
comprehends  thirty-one  million  miles  of  wire  and  thirteen  million 
telephone  stations  connecting  a  hundred  million  people  located 
everywhere  throughout  the  country. 

Pressing  on  to  achieve  still  greater  distances,  the  staff  of  these 
laboratories,  by  utilizing  many  scientific  discoveries,  have  trans- 
mitted the  human  voice,  without  the  use  of  wires,  from  Washington 
across  the  North  American  continent  to  San  Francisco  and  even 
far  out  into  the  Pacific  Ocean  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  where 
words  spoken  at  Washington  were  plainly  heard.  By  this  same 
apparatus  and  by  these  same  scientists  intelligible  speech  was  for 


4  SCIENCE:  J.  J.  CARTY 

the  first  time  transmitted  across  the  Atlantic  Ocean  from  Arlington, 
Virginia,  and  heard  at  Paris. 

I  like  to  hope  that  the  further  use  of  the  telephone  in  war  may 
be  forever  deferred,  and  to  contemplate  its  future  as  grand  and 
peaceful.  It  will  transmit  speech  beyond  the  vast  extent  of  our 
own  country  and  ultimately,  I  believe,  to  the  uttermost  ends  of  the 
earth,  breaking  down  the  barriers  to  the  spoken  word  and  preparing 
the  way  for  a  better  understanding  among  men.  It  is  not  distance 
from  one  another  which  has  produced  differences  of  language 
among  nations.  It  is  lack  of  intercommunication.  It  is  the 
failure  of  the  spoken  word  to  penetrate  their  boundaries. 

I  have  faith  that  we  shall  some  day  build  up  a  great  world  tele- 
phone system  making  necessary  to  all  the  nations  the  use  of  a  com- 
mon language  or  a  common  understanding  of  languages  which  will 
join  all  the  peoples  of  the  earth  into  one  brotherhood.  I  have 
faith  that  the  time  will  come,  so  beautifully  described  by  the  poet, 

"Wherein  each  earth-encircling  day  shall  be 
A  Pentecost  of  Speech,  and  men  shall  hear, 
Each  in  his  dearest  tongue,  his  neighbor's  voice 
Tho'  separate  by  half  the  globe." 

With  the  development  of  electric  lights,  and  electric  power, 
and  electric  traction,  all  of  which  came  after  the  invention  of  the 
telephone,  industrial  scientific  research  laboratories  were  founded 
by  some  of  the  larger  electrical  manufacturing  concerns  and  these 
have  attained  a  world-wide  reputation.  While  vast  sums  are  spent 
annually  on  industrial  research  in  these  laboratories,  it  can  be  said 
with  authority  that  they  return  to  the  industries,  and  through  the 
industries  to  the  public,  improvements  in  the  art  which  taken 
altogether  have  a  value  many  times  greater  than  the  cost  of  their 
development.  It  cannot  be  too  often  asserted  that  money  expended 
in  properly  directed  industrial  scientific  research  is  -sure  to  bring 
to  the  industries  most  generous  returns.  In  the  present  state 
of  the  world's  development,  nothing  can  do  more  to  advance 
American  industries  than  the  adoption  by  our  manufacturers  in 
general  of  industrial  research  conducted  on  scientific  principles. 
Our  industries,  our  manufacturers,  our  railroads,  our  public  service 
corporations  should  all  be  impressed  with  the  immense  savings 
and  advantages  which  will  come  to  them  and  to  the  public  from  the 
establishment  within  their  own  organizations  of  departments 
devoted  to  development  and  research. 

So  much  has  already  been  said  and  so  much  remains  to  be  said 


SCIENCE:   J.  J.  CARTY  5 

urging  upon  us  the  importance  of  scientific  research  conducted 
for  the  sake  of  utility  and  for  increasing  the  convenience  and  com- 
fort of  mankind,  that  there  is  danger  of  losing  sight  of  another 
form  of  scientific  research  which  has  for  its  primary  object  none 
of  these  things.  I  refer  to  pure  scientific  research  conducted  for 
the  sake  of  extending  the  boundaries  of  knowledge. 

Pure  scientific  research  is  conducted  with  a  philosophic  purpose, 
for  the  discovery  of  the  truth,  and  for  the  advancement  of  learning. 
The  investigators  in  pure  science  may  be  likened  to  e'xplorers 
who  discover  new  continents  or  islands,  or  hitherto  unknown 
territory.  They  are  continually  seeking  to  push  forward  the  frontiers 
of  knowledge.  The  work  of  the  pure  scientists  is  conducted  without 
any  utilitarian  motive,  for  as  Huxley  says,  "that  which  stirs  their 
pulses  is  the  love  of  knowledge  and  the  joy  of  discovery  of  the 
causes  of  things.  .  .  .the  supreme  delight  of  extending  the  realm 
of  law  and  order  ever  farther  toward  the  unattainable  goals  of  the 
infinitely  great  and  the  infinitely  small,  between  which  our  little 
race  of  life  is  run." 

The  pure  scientists  are  the  advance  guard  of  civilization.  By 
their  discoveries,  they  furnish  to  the  engineer  and  industrial  chemist 
and  other  applied  scientists  the  raw  material  to  be  elaborated  into 
manifold  agencies  for  the  amelioration  of  the  condition  of  man- 
kind. Unless  the  work  of  the  pure  scientist  is  continued  and 
pushed  forward  with  ever  increasing  energy,  the  achievements  of  the 
industrial  scientist  will  diminish  and  degenerate.  Many  practical 
problems  now  confronting  mankind  cannot  be  solved  by  the  in- 
dustrial scientist  alone,  but  must  await  further  fundamental  dis- 
coveries and  new  scientific  generalizations. 

When  considered  with  reference  to  a  single  branch  of  industry, 
no  particular  discovery  in  pure  science  appears  as  a  rule  to  be  of 
appreciable  benefit.  When,  however,  the  total  contributions  of 
pure  science  are  reviewed  with  regard  to  the  industries  as  a  whole, 
it  is  found  that  they  have  become  of  incalculable  value  through 
adaptation  to  practical  uses  by  the  industrial  scientist,  with  whom 
I  class  the  engineer  and  the  industrial  chemist. 

I  do  not  jay  this  because  a  new  incentive  is  necessary  for  the 
pure  scientist,  for  in  him  there  must  be  something  of  the  divine 
spark  and  for  him  there  is  no  higher  motive  than  the  search  for  the 
truth  itself.  But  his  motive  will  be  intensified  by  the  knowledge 
that,  when  his  search  is  rewarded,  there  is  sure  to  be  found  contained 


SCIENCE:  J.  J.  CARTY 


JOSEPH  HENRY 
1799-1878 


SCIENCE:  J.  J.  CARTY 


MICHAEL  FARADAY 
1791-1876 


8  SCIENCE:   J.  J.  CARTY 

In  the  truth  which  has  been  discovered  the  seeds  of  future  great 
inventions. 

While  the  discoveries  of  the  pure  scientists  are  of  the  greatest 
importance  to  the  higher  interests  of  mankind,  the  practical 
benefits  flowing  from  them,  though  certain,  are  usually  indirect, 
intangible,  or  remote.  From  its  very  nature  pure  science  cannot 
support  itself.  Nevertheless  it  must  be  conducted  regardless  of 
its  lack  of  pecuniary  returns. 

Who,  therefore,  is  to  support  the  researches  of  the  pure  scientist 
and  who  is  to  furnish  him  with  encouragement  and  assistance  to 
pursue  his  self-sacrificing  and  arduous  quest  for  that  truth  which  is 
certain,  as  time  goes  on,  to  bring  in  its  train  so  many  blessings  to 
mankind?  Who  is  to  furnish  the  laboratories,  the  funds  for  ap- 
paratus, for  travel,  and  for  foreign  study? 

Because  of  the  extraordinary  practical  results  which  have  been 
attained  by  scientifically  trained  men  working  in  industrial 
laboratories,  and  because  of  the  restricted  conditions  under  which 
many  scientific  investigators  in  universities  are  so  often  compelled 
to  work,  it  has  been  suggested  that  perhaps  the  theatre  of 
scientific  research  might  be  shifted  from  the  universities  to  the 
great  industrial  laboratories  which  have  grown  up,  or  to  the  even 
greater  ones  which  the  future  must  bring  forth. 

But  we  may  dismiss  this  suggestion  as  being  unworthy.  In- 
stead of  abdicating  in  their  favor,  may  not  our  universities,  stimu- 
lated by  the  notable  achievements  of  the  industrial  laboratories, 
find  a  way  to  advance  the  conduct  of  their  pure  scientific  research, 
the  responsibility  for  which  rests  so  heavily  upon  them. 

Various  organizations  and  institutions,  not  connected  with 
universities,  are  also  engaged  in  pure  scientific  research  and  they 
are  achieving  most  remarkable  results.  They  should  receive  every 
encouragement  and  their  number  should  be  increased,  but  a  home 
for  pure  science  must  always  be  found  in  the  university. 

In  matters  of  science  the  function  of  the  university  is  two-fold — 
the  discovery  of  the  unknown,  and  the  teaching  of  the  known. 
It  is  a  high  function  of  the  universities  to  make  advances  in  pure 
science,  to  test  reported  new  scientific  discoveries  and  to  place 
upon  those  which  are  found  to  be  true  the  stamp  of  their  approval. 
In  this  way  they  can  determine  what  shall  be  taught  as  scientific 
truth  to  those  who,  relying  upon  their  authority,  come  to  them  for 
knowledge  and  believe  what  they  teach. 


SCIENCE:  J.  J.  CARTY  9 

In  my  Presidential  address  before  the  American  Institute  of 
Electrical  Engineers  delivered  at  Cleveland  in  1916,  speaking  as  a 
representative  of  engineering  and  industrial  research,  I  testified 
to  the  great  value  of  pure  scientific  research  in  universities,  and 
ventured  to  suggest  to  the  .university  authorities  that  they  consider 
the  immense  debt  which  engineering,  the  industries,  transportation, 
communications  and  commerce  owe  to  them  and  to  pure  science. 
I  expressed  the  hope  that  the  importance  of  pure  scientific  re- 
search would  be  more  fully  appreciated,  both  within  the  university 
and  without,  since  with  that  appreciation  there  would  come  the 
sympathy  and  generous  financial  support  so  much  needed  for  the 
advancement  of  pure  scientific  research  in  America. 

The  time  has  now  come  when  the  universities,  aroused  by  the 
experience  of  the  war  to  the  ever-increasing  importance  of  science 
in  the  public  welfare,  are  striving  as  never  before  to  fulfill  their 
function  of  promoting  new  scientific  discoveries.  They  are  asking 
where  they  are  to  obtain  the  necessary  money,  particularly  when  it  is 
impossible  for  them  to  maintain  adequately  the  staffs  required  for 
teaching  those  scientific  truths  which  have  already  been  discovered. 
So  great  has  been  the  economic  disorder  created  by  the  war  that 
many  of  the  scientific  teachers  and  others  in  the  universities,  are 
compelled  to  seek  other  occupations  in  order  that  they  may  support 
their  families.  A  critical  situation '  confronts  our  institutions  of 
learning,  and  unless  we  come  to  their  rescue,  our  progress  in  science 
will  suffer.  For  the  necessary  pecuniary  aid  we  must  appeal  to 
those  generous  and  public-spirited  men  and  women  who  desire 
to  dispose  of  their  wealth  in  a  manner  best  calculated  to  advance 
the  welfare  of  mankind,  and  we  must  also  appeal  to  the  industries 
themselves  which  owe  such  a  heavy  debt  to  science. 

It  is  certain  that  contributions  by  our  manufacturers  and  by  the 
industrial  corporations  generally  to  pure  scientific  research  will 
in  the  long  run  bring  manifold  returns  to  them  and  to  the  public 
whom  they  serve.  These  returns  will  come  through  the  medium 
of  industrial  research  conducted  in  the  rich  territory  discovered 
by  the  scientific  investigators  of  the  universities  and  the  other 
institutions  devoted  to  the  cause  of  science. 

In  England  during  the  last  century  Michael  Faraday,  one  of  the 
greatest  workers  in  pure  science,  discovered  the  principle  of  the 
dynamo-electric  machine.  Independently  of  him,  and  at  about 
the  same  time,  the  same  principle  was  discovered  by  Joseph  Henry, 


10  SCIENCE:  J.  J.  CARTY 

teacher  at  the  Albany  Academy,  professor  at  Princeton,  the  first 
Secretary  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  and  President  of  the 
National  Academy  of  Sciences.  No  controversy  arose  between 
Faraday  and  Henry  as  to  the  credit  for  the  discovery,  but  with  that 
generosity  of  spirit  which  characterized  them  both,  each  gave  a  full 
measure  of  credit  to  the  other.  Indeed,  this  discovery  tended  to 
form  a  bond  of  union  and  became  the  source  of  a  permanent  friend- 
ship between  them.  By  agreement  among  the  scientists  of  all  the 
nations,  one  of  the  fundamental  electrical  units  is  called  the 
"farad,"  in  honor  of  Faraday,  and  another  is  called  the  "henry" 
in  honor  of  Henry.  Both  of  these  men  devoted  their  lives  to  the 
discovery  of  new  scientific  truths,  and  to  the  teaching  of  science. 

To  them,  as  to  all  workers  in  pure  science,  "What  use  is  it?" 
is  not  the  vital  question,  but  rather,  "What  message  does  it  bring? 
What  truth  does  it  reveal?  What  law  does  it  establish?" 

An  experiment  in  science  is  but  a  question  put  to  nature.  She 
will  answer  truthfully  every  question  that  we  ask.  She  will  make 
known  to  us  all  her  secrets  if  we  have  but  the  skill  properly 
to  frame  our  questions  and  the  wit  to  appreciate  the  answers. 

An  English  statesman  before  whom  Faraday  performed  his 
fundamental  experiment  in  electromagnetism  asked  the  forbidden 
question  "What  use  is  it?"  Faraday  replied,  "Some  day  it  may  be 
developed  so  that  you  can  tax  it." 

Faraday  was  a  good  prophet,  for  upon  his  fundamental  dis- 
covery and  that  of  Henry,  if  I  may  but  include  one  or  two  others 
of  a  similar  fundamental  character,  there  has  been  erected  the  entire 
art  of  electrical  engineering,  as  it  exists  throughout  the  world  to- 
day. Truly  this  discovery  has  been  developed.  To-day  mankind 
is  in  possession  of  electrical  property  valued  at  twenty  billions  of 
dollars  and  evidence  is  not  lacking  that  other  statesmen  besides 
Faraday's  are  busy  taxing  it. 

It  is  my  great  privilege  to  have  here  the  identical  apparatus 
employed  by  Henry,  and  with  this  to  perform  before  you  to-night 
the  experiment  illustrating  the  fundamental  principle  in  electro- 
magnetism  discovered  by  Faraday  and  Henry.  In  this  experiment, 
an  electromagnet  (see  Fig.  i)  is  made  to  generate  a  current  of 
electricity  in  a  coil  of  wire,  as  is  proven  by  the  deflection  of  the 
galvanometer  (see  Fig.  2).  The  principle  thus  discovered  is  the  fun- 
damental one  upon  which  all  dynamo-electric  machines  are  built. 

The    coils    of    these    magnets     and    this    galvanometer    were 


SCIENCE:  J.  J.  CAR7  Y 


1 1 


FIG.  i 

The  electromagnet  with  which  Henry  discovered  the  in- 
duction of  currents 


12 


SCIENCE:  J.  J.  CARTY 


FIG.  2 

Galvanometer  used  by  Henry  at  the  time  he  made  his  dis- 
covery of  the  induction  of  currents 


SCIENCE:  J.  J.  CARTY  13 

wound  by  Henry  himself.  Even  the  very  wire  was  insulated 
with  his  own  hands.  Insulated  electrical  wire,  which  now  seems  so 
common  to  us  that  we  may  perhaps  fancy  it  has  always  existed, 
was  not  an  article  of  manufacture  in  Henry's  time.  In  fact,  it 
appears  that  to  Henry  belongs  the  credit  of  having  first  thought  of 
applying  an  insulated  covering  to  the  wire  used  for  winding  electro- 
magnets. Earlier  electromagnets  had  all  consisted  of  a  varnished 
iron  core  wound  about  with  a  few  turns  of  bare  wire.  Electro- 
magnets with  many  turns  of  insulated  wire,  such  as  are  used  in 
every  telephone  and  telegraph  instrument  and  form  part  of  every 
dynamo  and  motor,  were  first  devised  and  their  superiority  demon- 
strated to  the  scientific  world  by  Joseph  Henry. 

These  historic  relics  are  valued  possessions  of  Princeton  Uni- 
versity, where  for  years  they  have  been  carefully  guarded  by 
Henry's  scientific  successors.  Because  of  their  very  great  desire  to 
assist  the  Research  Council  in  its  work,  the  authorities  of  the 
University  have  generously  permitted  me  to  bring  this  apparatus 
to  Washington  to  perform  this  experiment  before  you. 

At  the  time  this  experiment  in  natural  philosophy  was  performed 
by  Henry,  no  one  could  dream  of  the  wonderful  possibilities  which 
it  was  destined  to  open  to  us.  The  value  of  this  discovery  is  not  to 
be  measured  merely  by  the  billions  of  dollars  worth  of  electrical 
property  which  it  has  made  possible.  This  property  has  now  be- 
come such  a  fundamental  part  of  the  mechanism  of  modern  civiliza- 
tion that,  if  it  were  suddenly  withdrawn  from  use,  the  world's  in- 
dustries would  become  deranged,  its  communications  paralyzed, 
and  transportation  would  become  so  disorganized  that  millions 
would  starve  and  disorder  inconceivable  supervene. 

That  such  remarkable  results  should  have  followed  from  this 
simple  experiment  conducted  by  a  philosopher  seeking  only  for 
the  truth,  surely  no  one  could  have  foretold.  For  any  practical 
purpose  these  old  magnets  never  had  a  value  greater  than  so  much 
junk,  but  in  the  hands  of  the  philosopher  they  have  brought  endless 
advantages  which  will  continue  to  accrue  to  the  benefit  of  mankind 
as  long  as  civilization  endures. 

In  order  to  encourage  those  engaged  in  the  industries  and  in  the 
practical  arts  and  in  commerce  to  make  contributions  to  the  support 
of  scientific  discovery  in  the  universities  and  other  institutions,  and 
more  particularly  in  order  to  justify  them  from  a  business  standpoint 
in  so  doing,  it  is  necessary  to  demonstrate  the  pecuniary  value  of 


14  SCIENCE:  J.  J.  CARTY 

science.  I  have  endeavored  to  combat  the  unappreciative  views 
so  often  held  concerning  pure  science  in  the  universities,  and  at  the 
same  time  I  have  urged  the  great  practical  usefulness  and  profit 
to  be  derived  from  scientific  research  conducted  within  the  in- 
dustries. Above  all  it  has  been  my  purpose  to  show  that  our 
future  progress  in  the  industries,  in  commerce,  in  medicine  and  in 
surgery,  and  in  all  the  practical  arts  and  sciences  depends  upon 
fundamental  discoveries  yet  to  be  made  by  workers  in  pure  science 
in  our  universities  and  other  scientific  institutions. 

For  many  years  friends  of  the  Albany  Academy  have  tried  in 
vain  to  raise  the  few  thousand  dollars  necessary  to  erect  at  Albany, 
where  Henry  did  his  early  work,  a  monument  to  his  memory. 
Once  the  American  people  have  been  made  to  understand  the 
marvelous  contribution  which  their  scientist  made  to  human 
welfare,  their  sense  of  duty  and  their  unfailing  generosity  will  stir 
them  to  action.  Then,  I  am  sure,  they  will  erect  a  worthy  memorial 
through  which  American  art  will  express  to  American  science  the 
gratitude  of  our  people  for  the  discoveries  of  Henry. 

Also,  through  their  generosity,  through  their  gratitude  and 
their  feeling  of  enlightened  self-interest,  they  will  relieve  the 
necessities  of  Princeton,  which  lacks  only  pecuniary  aid  to  enable 
the  successors  of  Joseph  Henry  there,  to  carry  out  in  a  worthy 
manner  the  high  traditions  which  he  established  at  that  uni- 
versity. 

Even  at  the  Smithsonian,  where  Henry  its  first  Secretary  labored 
so  successfully,  many  of  the  wonderful  scientific  projects  of  his 
distinguished  successor,  Dr.  Walcott,  are  sadly  impeded  for  lack  of 
funds.  In  this  case  also,  when  the  truth  is  known,  I  am  sure  that 
the  generosity  of  our  people  will  not  fail. 

For  these  institutions,  forever  associated  with  the  name  of  our 
great  American  scientist,  and  for  all  the  universities  and  other 
organizations  devoted  to  science,  these  old  magnets  wound  by  the 
patient  hands  of  Henry  himself,  have  come  to  speak.  Here  at  the 
Smithsonian,  in  the  capital  of  the  Nation,  the  scene  of  his  many 
triumphs,  these  venerable  relics  speak  to  the  American  people  and 
plead  the  cause  of  science. 

The  message  which  they  bear  expresses  much  more  than  the 
indebtedness  of  the  electrical  industry  to  Henry  and  Faraday,  vast 
though  that  is ;  it  expresses  the  debt  of  every  industry  to  all  laborers 
in  scientific  fields.  Every  age  and  nation  has  had  its  Henrys  and 


SCIENCE:  J.  J.  CARTY  15 

its  Faradays  who  have  devoted  themselves  to  the  quest  for  truth; 
and  the  fruits  of  their  endeavors  when  called  to  testify,  could  speak 
as  eloquently  as  these  old  magnets  of  the  immense  practical  benefits 
accruing  to  the  world  from  what  have  often  seemed  to  the  un- 
initiated to  be  trivial  scientific  investigations. 

If  it  were  attempted  to  appraise  the  value  of  science  in  dollars 
or  to  express  it  in  amounts  of  taxable  property,  the  figures  would  be 
inconceivably  large.  But  science  can  best  be  measured  in  terms 
of  human  achievement,  the  mastery  of  the  forces  of  nature,  the 
elimination  of  poverty  and  disease,  the  prolongation  of  life,  the 
advancement  of  learning,  the  growth  of  right  living  and  sound 
thinking,  and  of  good  understanding  among  men. 

I  have  now  a  message  to  deliver.  Filled  with  courage  and 
promise  and  hope,  it  is  addressed  to  all  of  those  who  labor  and  are 
burdened  with  toil.  It  tells  them  that  the  possibilities  of  science 
are  boundless  and  that  the  resources  of  nature  are  without  number. 
They  are  asked  no  longer  to  interpret  life  as  a  struggle  among  men 
for  a  limited  store,  where  one  man's  gain  must  be  another  man's 
loss.  They  are  bidden  to  pay  heed  to  the  voice  of  the  scientist  and 
under  his  leadership  join  with  their  fellowmen,  all  working  together 
in  controlling  and  utilizing  the  bountiful  forces  of  nature. 

They  are  told  that  they  are  pioneers  in  a  new  land.  They  are 
asked  to  endure  the  temporary  hardships  of  the  present  day  as  did 
the  early  settlers  in  our  own  country,  who  were  buoyed  up  with  that 
vision  of  vast  natural  resources  which  unfolded  itself  before  their 
eyes.  They  are  told  to  look  about  them  through  the  eyes  of  modern 
science  and  they  will  see  that  they  too  are  pioneers,  and  in  a  world 
of  wonders  filled  with  boundless  promise  which  will  be  realized  by 
their  children  and  their  children's  children  and  all  of  their  genera- 
tions in  increasing  measure. 

Great  as  are  the  scientific  accomplishments  of  our  day,  they  are 
smalt  indeed  compared  to  the  possibilities  of  the  future  with  which 
Nature  awaits  the  call  of  the  scientist.  Two  centuries  ago,  Sir 
Isaac  Newton,  the  discoverer  of  the  law  of  gravitation,  who  ranks 
perhaps  as  the  foremost  scientist  the  world  has  had,  expressed  his 
faith  in  the  infinite  possibilities  of  science  in  the  following  words : 

"I  seem  to  have  been  only  like  a  boy  playing  on  the  seashore, 
and  directing  myself  in  now  and  then  finding  a  smoother  pebble  or 
a  prettier  shell  than  ordinary,  whilst  the  great  ocean  of  truth  lay 
all  undiscovered  before  me." 


16  SCIENCE:  J.  J.  CARTY 

All  the  wonderful  scientific  developments  since  the  time  of 
Newton  so  strikingly  confirm  the  vision  of  the  great  philosopher 
expressed  in  the  words  just  quoted,  that  I  can  predict  with  a  feel- 
ing of  certainty  that  the  discoveries  of  the  future,  if  science  is  prop- 
erly supported,  will  be  enormously  great  in  comparison  to  those  of 
our  own  time.  I  believe,  indeed,  that  they  will  be  so  great  that 
the  people  of  that  coming  day  will  look  back  upon  our  knowledge  of 
the  forces  of  Nature  as  we  now  look  back  upon  that  of  the  North 
American  Indian  who,  cold  and  shivering,  was  ignorant  of  the  coal 
at  his  feet  with  its  stores  of  warmth  and  power. 

For  all  of  the  benefits  which  she  has  conferred  upon  us,  science 
asks  only  that  we  provide  her  faithful  workers  with  an  opportunity 
to  multiply  their  efforts  in  our  behalf.  Pointing  to  the  past,  she 
holds  forth  with  certainty  the  promise  of  further  great  truths.  She 
tells  us  that  from  these  truths  the  engineers  and  chemists,  the  physi- 
cians and  surgeons,  the  agriculturists  and  all  the  other  applied 
scientists  trained  in  our  universities,  will  develop  without  number 
marvelous  new  agencies  for  the  comfort  and  convenience  of  man 
and  for  the  alleviation  of  human  suffering. 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


Bulletin  of  the  National 

Volume  i 

Number  i.  The  national  importance  of  scientific  and  industrial  re- 
search. By  George  Ellery  Hale  and  others.  Pages  43.  Price  50 
cents. 

Number  2.  Research  laboratories  in  industrial  establishments  of  the 
United  States  of  America.  Compiled  by  Alfred  D.  Flinn.  (In 
press.) 

Number  3.  Periodical  bibliographies  and  abstracts  for  the  scientific 
and  technological  journals  of  the  world.  Compiled  by  R.  Cobb. 
(In  preparation.) 

Number  4.  North  American  forest  research.  Compiled  by  the  Com- 
mittee on  American  Forest  Research,  Society  of  American  Foresters. 
(In  press.) 


Reprint  and  Circular  Series  of  the  National 
Research  Council 

Number  i.  Report  of  the  Patent  Committee  of  the  National  Research 
Council.  Presented  for  the  Committee  by  L.  H.  Baekeland, 
Acting  Chairman.  Pages  24.  Price  30  cents. 

Number  2.  Report  of  the  Psychology  Committee  of  the  National  Re- 
search Council.  Presented  for  the  Committee  by  Robert  M. 
Yerkes,  Chairman.  Pages  51.  Price  60  cents. 

Number  3.  Refractory  materials  as  a  field  for  research.  By  Edward 
W.  Washburn.  Pages  24.  Price  30  cents. 

Number  4.  Industrial  research.  By  F.  B.  Jewett.  Pages  16.  Price 
25  cents. 

Number  5.  Some  problems  of  sidereal  astronomy.  By  Henry  N. 
Russell.  Pages  25.  Price  30  cents. 

Number  6.  The  development  of  research  in  the  United  States.  By 
James  Rowland  Angell.  Pages  13.  Price  25  cents. 

Number  7.  The  larger  opportunities  for  research  on  the  relations  of 
solar  and  terrestrial  radiation.  By  C.  G.  Abbot.  Pages  14. 
Price  20  cents. 

Number  8.  Science  and  the  industries.  By  John  J.  Carty.  Pages  16. 
Price  25  cents. 

Number  9.  A  reading  list  on  scientific  and  industrial  research  and  the 
service  of  the  chemist  to  industry.  By  Clarence  Jay  West.  (In 
press.) 


i 


